Ahli suffered an agonizing 1-0 defeat at Stade Malien in the CAF Champions League round of 16 first leg. After wasting the chance of grabbing an away goal, the Egyptian champions looked set for a goalless draw only for Lamine Diawara to head in the winner for the hosts with seconds remaining. Ahli need to win by more than one goal when the second leg takes place in Cairo in two weeks' time. Early and late blow Manuel Jose put his faith in the fit-again Wael Gomaa to replace missing sweeper Hossam Ghaly, but the Portuguese coach received an unexpected blow to his plans early on. Following several weeks on the sidelines with a calf injury, Gomaa's return lasted no more than nine minutes as he made way for Sherif Abdul-Fadil. The defensive blow did not affect the Reds though as they always looked closer to breaking the deadlock, with Dominique da Silva missing a couple of good chances. Influential duo Emad Meteb and Mohamed Abou-Treika came on to add some creativity upfront and almost grabbed the vital away goal 15 minutes from time. But a moment of controversy saw the clear-on-goal Meteb round the keeper and go down following the slightest of touches, while the referee was unimpressed by the Egypt striker's shout. The 90th minute came and Ahli looked satisfied with the away draw, but Diawara took advantage of some poor marking to rise for a cross and head past Sherif Ekrami from close range.
